


Rough Pavement

by Merfilly



Series: Walk a Different Road [7]
Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Xenophilia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-15
Updated: 2011-09-15
Packaged: 2017-10-23 18:19:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/253434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mikaela knows she is being watched.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rough Pavement

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Relationships in this series are polyamorous and human/mech in nature. This chapter lacks anything in the way of relationship interaction.
> 
> 2\. Winging it on characterizations for Blitzwing and Octane, but drawing off the G1 storylines for each in vague fashion.

Bastion had an official military designation, but the Cybertronians had chosen to give it a name they could also translate into their glyphs. Hound had suggested Tir na Nog, being fresh from perusing Irish mythology. Mirage had thought it was romantic, but unfitting. Ratchet had offered the name Sanctuary, but Jolt had quite plainly said that was just inviting disaster, and besides the Sanctuary he was reading about was a den of thieves and murderers. Optimus Prime, listening to all of the discussion had been subtly pleased to see his mecha were beginning to absorb culture, both historical and popular, from their home.

It was Sideswipe who had said one word at the meeting, just 'Bastion'. Prime had considered him with a level gaze, and then nodded. The island base was named Bastion, and the use of it caught on with the rudimentary human staff in residence.

Mikaela found the name to be many-layered. It could be a bastion of hope, or a last chance hold out versus defeat. Either way, she found that the Cybertronians that were her new family were settling in as if it were their home, adapting the materials and island itself to meet all their needs. Solar arrays powered nearly all of the base, with wind turbines to counteract the longer storm streaks. Generators were available, running off a locally distilled ethanol based from seaweed. Hound was, needless to say, pedes over helm in love with all the renewable energies, and convinced that once Perceptor arrived, surely they'd figure out how to convert it to proper energon.

Through it all, Mikaela was watched.

She did not go out of her way to interact with the defectors in the early days after arriving at Bastion. Something about them made Ratchet twitchy, and while the medic was known for being blunt, he would not discuss this with her. Sideswipe muttered something about a battle on a distant planet, and treachery, but he wasn't being the most talkative mech either.

Mikaela didn't mind too much. Sticking close to the medical facility meant she had more time to study the wiring and circuitry protocols she needed to help Ratchet craft the processor they still lacked for Jazz's new form. When Optimus was off base, Mikaela took to sitting near the hidden spark case, talking to it the same as she had read to Arcee. It made her feel more useful, and nurtured the hope she felt deep inside that Jazz was potentially the key to stopping the random flares of temper that Optimus was having.

`~`~`~`~`

Mikaela worked carefully on the repair Octane needed, aware he was dissecting her with his optics and occasionally feeling the brush of scans. That last was creepy; she had learned from her friends it was the equivalent of a grope among humans. She would loved to have rushed, but she didn't want to risk angering the former Decepticon, leading to an accident that might have left her squashed.

Unfortunately, the longer she was with him, the more certain she became that the injury had been deliberate. Now, she was curious what about her had him interested enough for self-injury.

"Okay, give." She looked directly into his red optics. "Why the hell do you and Blitzwing watch me every time I come out of this building?"

"We watch all of you humans."

"Not like me, not this way." She glared at him with as much menace as she could muster before picking up the welder to seal the armor plate once more.

Octane mustered a smile that did nothing to allay Mikaela's feelings of paranoia. She turned her attention to the weld, not wanting to see his face any more.

"You are the only … non-soldier femme on the island. You do not live in the human barracks. You do everything with the Autobots. It makes you interesting enough to warrant more analysis," Octane told her, an honest and logical answer to her ears.

She did not believe that was all of it.

"I work with Optimus's cadre. I am not a soldier, and do not want to be one. I'm an apprentice medic… obviously." She punctuated the last by finishing the very straight seam weld she had made, knowing his repair nanites would soon burnish the uneven texture down, leaving only a vaguely discolored patch in the plate. Even that, if he did not need repairs there, would fade in time. "And, Octane? The next time you injure yourself while Ratchet is not here to supervise my repairs, you'll have to suffer until he gets back."

She put the welder down, even as Octane made a low laugh, distorted by his damaged vocalizer. "Easy to tell who your teacher is with that attitude. But then, he was always a glitch-taken slagger," Octane mentioned.

Mikaela had to look up at him then, curiosity at war with her caution.

"I know him," Octane said, in answer to the unspoken question. "Might even say he's the reason I'm in this position, and so is Blitzy."

Mikaela turned a skeptical look up at that idea, but Octane looked right back at her.

"He's got a lot of experience with busted vocalizers. Even helps the enemy out when it happens. Common injury actually, with varying degrees of success in the repair." Octane's optics remained on Mikaela with an intensity that demanded her attention. "Luck brought me and Blitzwing in on what we thought was an outpost of 'Cons. Only, our nav systems were slagged, and it was a med-evac point, with one crazy slagger of a medic who promised to send us to the deepest Pits he could find if we didn't give our word not to harm him or the patients."

"Totally Ratchet," Mikaela agreed cautiously.

"Then the rest of our strike team caught up to us. Buncha wounded neutrals, couple Autobots, and this medic who had already fixed me the best he could… and the slaggers we ran with just saw spare parts for the taking." Octane flexed his talons on both hands. "I signed on for the war with a real mind to being someone making something happen. Blitzy had his own reasons."

"What…what happened?" Mikaela couldn't help but ask.

"We tried to tell them not to. But they shot at one of the little Neutrals, barely more than a servitor, you know? Too mindless to really, honestly pick a side. Told by his handler not to get involved." Octane grimaced. "Blitzwing and I decided enough was enough, took on the old team to show them what warriors could do. But one of 'em, one got away, went screaming to High Command. So me and Blitzy wound up on the run, until we heard things had come to a head out in this backwater sector." That made Octane grin, because Mikaela planted her fists on her hips and glared. "It is! You haven't seen what we have, out there!" He chuckled, his raspy and crackling voice making it sound vaguely creepy to Mikaela's ears.

"So you asked Optimus for asylum because the 'Cons think you are a pair of traitors, not because you really want the war over?" Mikaela pushed.

"Beats running, squishy," Octane defended. "Only, Prime's benevolence really doesn't run that far, does it?" Octane scoffed.

Mikaela's voice got heated, and she knew her bio-electric field was sharp enough to be felt. "You were Decepticons! How's he supposed to react? It's not like you guys deserve the red carpet!"

Octane pushed down so his face was on level with her body. "You think he's all noble and good?! You ever bother to stop and hear about the Autobot atrocities? How about the fact he condemned our race to extinction?!"

"Like Megatron wouldn't have if he gained the Allspark?! There are other ways to create! All Megatron wanted was to destroy!"

Octane started to blast her with further words, but he caught himself and drew back. "If you're not willing to listen, and you're just an ally, what hope is there for the war to actually end?" he asked in disgust. With a flex of the injured limb, Octane pushed up, glad the repairs weren't as fragile as she was.

"Wait…" Mikaela asked, catching the end of her temper and reining it in fully.

"Done waiting." He started toward the door. "Done talking, until someone wants to listen," he added.

She could only watch as he moved out, leaving her wondering just how she could get the real picture of it all, if he was so certain the Autobots had made their own mistakes in the war.

`~`~`~`~`

Blitzwing looked at his partner as the door shut on their quarters. ::Well?::

::The femme reeks of spark energy, and radiates it when brought to high emotion.::

::Useful?::

::I'm sure Shockwave would be able to determine that if we took her back to Cybertron.::

::Too far. We'll just have to take our chances with either 'Scream being smart when we show up, or the curiosity of it being enough to amuse Lord Megatron.::

Octane looked at Blitzwing, saw he was set on that course, and nodded, giving in, as he always did, to his partner's wishes.


End file.
